Crewe Alex were frustrated by fellow strugglers Yeovil Town who held them to a goalless draw at Gresty Road on Saturday.

The Alex were the better side and created more chances, with Callum Ainley, Jordan Bowery and Zoumana Bakayogo going closest.

But they could not find a way through the Glovers’ determined rearguard, and it was their first draw in 29 fixtures.

The result did at least stop a sequence of five straight defeats, but Crewe are two places and three points above the drop zone.

Crewe went into the game in desperate need of a victory to arrest their slide towards the drop zone.

They were boosted by the availability of defender Perry Ng, who has completed a four-match suspension, and manager David Artell restored him to the line-up in yet another shake-up of his team.

Zoumana Bakayogo, who also missed the previous match through suspension, was also recalled at left-back, pushing Harry Pickering – who deputised there in the 4-1 loss at Notts County, into the centre of midfield.

There were three changes in all, with Michael Raynes, Brad Walker and Tom Lowery dropping to the bench. Charlie Kirk came into a wide position as the Alex reverted to 4-4-2.

There were home debuts for Shaun Miller and Jamie Sterry, while loan man Paul Green captained the side for the first time.

Yeovil, though only three places and five points better off than their hosts, have enjoyed a purple patch of late, winning the last three on the spin and taking seven from the last 12 points in the league.

And the most recent successes have come despite the absence of star man Otis Khan, who continued his five-match suspension for an off-the-ball incident last month.

The Glovers’ strength, though, has been at Huish Park. On their travels they had previously won just twice in the league.

They started with former Crewe loan man Ryan Seager alongside captain Francois Zoko in attack.

There were early sights of goal for both sides, with Pickering having a shot deflected wide for Crewe and Seager and Lewis Wing both failing to test keeper Ben Garratt at the other end.

But it there was not a great deal of penalty area action initially, with both sides realising the importance of the game and preferring not to take big risks.

The Alex threatened after the 20-minute mark, with Jordan Bowery seeing a shot blocked and Nolan heading into the arms of keeper Artur Krysiak from the resultant corner.

Then Callum Ainley got behind the defence after a neat passing move but saw his effort from an acute angle saved, and Bakayogo’s blast from close range was also expertly stopped by Krysiak as the Alex got on top.

On 34 minutes another nice move from Crewe got Green racing beyond the back line and when he crossed the ball appeared to strike the arm of Omar Sowunmi, but the referee was unmoved by the furious penalty appeals.

A mistake by Ng allowed Seager an opportunity but he dragged it wide as Yeovil countered, and it was goalless at the break.

The Alex had been unable to sustain the intensity of their purple patch, and allowed the visitors to stabilise when they had looked on the ropes for a time.

Yeovil made a change at the break, taking off defender Nathan Smith and replacing him with Ryan Dickson.

Crewe went very close straight after the restart, when Miller was brought down 22 yards out and Pickering’s super curler came back off the bar.

Keeper Krysiak was injured as the Alex tried to force the ball over the line on rebound, and he hobbled off shortly afterwards to be replaced by Jonny Maddison.

Showunmi should have done better than head over when he got free as Town attacked, while on 57 minutes Miller created an opening for himself but blazed over from inside the box.

The game opened up after the hour-mark, with Zoko dragging inches wide on a Yeovil counter and Ainley drilling a shot at the legs of Maddison from close in.

Harry McKirdy came on for Crewe in place of Kirk, and Sam Surridge was thrown up front for Seager as the Glovers’ last change, as both managers added firepower.

Brilliant play involving Ainley and Green saw the ball roll along the Yeovil six-yard-box with nobody attacking on 75 minutes, and not long after Green, who had made more forward runs than before in a Crewe shirt, headed over from a Bakayogo cross.

But they could not find a way through, and actually spent much of the final few minutes on the back foot as Yeovil looked to snatch it.

The last chance of the game fell to McKirdy in injury time when a Pickering cross was only half-cleared, but his prodded effort was blocked by a visiting defending and the sides had to settle for a share of the spoils.